“The court system can be scary to navigate, but when we all work together, really good things can happen. This was one of them.”
Last Thursday, Dec. 21st, a warrant amnesty event was held by the City of Lincoln and Lancaster County. Following the event, officials like Lancaster County Public Defender Kristi Egger are reporting that “Warrant Wipeout” exceeded all expectations, with over 120 arrest warrants being nullified.
“Many people were helped, and, hopefully their holiday season will be more joyful with the knowledge that they do not have a warrant hanging over their head,” said Egger.
The timing of this “Warrant Wipeout” event was to give individuals with qualifying misdemeanor arrest warrants an opportunity to have their warrants cleared without having to be taken into custody over the holidays, which also gets their case back on track in the court system.
County Attorney Pat Condon said, “The turnout for ‘Warrant Wipeout’ surpassed even our greatest expectations. At one point, there was nowhere to sit in the courtroom as more than 50 people were present to have their case called and warrant cleared.”
According to Condon, the event ran nearly 90 minutes past its originally scheduled end time, thanks to the presiding Judge Zimmerman, the entire County Court staff, and present members of the Sheriff’s Office agreeing to stay late to get warrants cleared.
“Without their generosity, there is no way we could have had everyone’s cases heard last night,” said Condon.
Down to our criminal justice system in the city of Lincoln and Lancaster County, tis the season of giving.